HYDERABAD, Dec 3: The general council of the Sindh Abadgar Board at a meeting held here on Saturday opposed the proposed construction of the Kalabagh dam. It maintained that five times more water than the Kalabagh dam capacity of six MAF (million acre feet) could be saved by improving the irrigation system.

Abdul Majeed Nizamani presided over the meeting.

The general council was of the opinion that the government had failed to take into consideration technical aspects, political situation, strong opposition from provincial assemblies of Sindh, the NWFP and Balochistan, recommendations of the world commission on big dams, environmental degradation, erosion of 2.1 million acres of land by seawater and many other factors in this regard.

It demanded that the 1991 water accord should be implemented in letter and spirit, Tarbela, Mangla and Chashma dams should be desilted to restore their original storage capacity, corruption should be eliminated from the irrigation department and canals and watercourses should be lined which could save 30.93 MAF water.

It further demanded that efforts should be made to store rainwater, encourage forestry in water-logging and salinity-affected areas and increase the budget for research.

The meeting recommended that wherever feasible, small water reservoirs should be constructed and farm reservoirs should be set up in water-logging areas.

It called for effective steps to restore the delta and forestry. It demanded payment of compensation to growers of Sindh due to violation of the water accord.

The meeting urged the government to protect rice growers through purchase of rice at the government level, complete lining of watercourses, direct sugar mills to start crushing of cane without any further delay, end water rotation programme and exempt farmers from payment of water charges due to the rotation programme.

It said the government should ensure participation of growers in irrigation reforms and the desilting programme and release water in the Johi branch to save farmers.